Pain Medicine Physician Salary

Pain is a complex beast. People can have chronic pain from cancer, arthritis, injuries, or just plain back pain. The Institute of Medicine issued a report stating that about 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. That’s more than heart disease, cancer, and diabetes combined!

Pain management comprises of a multi-disciplinary approach to the treatment of chronic pain. Meaning it’s usually a team of pain doctors, psychologists, and therapists all working together towards reducing the amount of pain a patient has. There are 2 major ways to become a pain management doctor. They are both high in salary but there is a significant difference.

Salary

Just how much do pain medicine doctors make?

A reported median is $340,506 with the most common ranging from $273,297 to $398,304. These numbers align more with pain management doctors who do not practice anesthesiology. Doctors who do practice pain medicine with anesthesiology report an average of $502,024 per year! If you are just starting out, anesthesiology pain doctors might make $315,000. The maximum reported salary is $651,000!

Keep in mind the difference that there is a difference between doctors who incorporate anesthesiology into their practice and doctor’s that don’t.

Training

To become a pain management doctor, you can go one of two ways:

Anesthesiology –> Pain Medicine Fellowship

Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation –> Pain Medicine Fellowship

Whether you do anesthesiology first or PM&R, the total years of training required would be 5 or 6 years. 4 years of specializing in one of those areas then 1-2 years of sub-specializing in Pain Management.

With over 100 million Americans suffering from chronic pain, the call for Pain Management doctors is still strong. It’s a field of medicine that can truly bring relief to many patients. The salary and lifestyle are also pretty great. If you like doing procedures in an office or practicing integrative medicine, this could be the field for you.

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About thuchuynh

I'm a physician and webpreneur. My main interest lies around how medicine can play a role with web 2.0. My works include Cool Health Infographics which curates the best health infographics circulating the web, Compare Caribbean Medical Schools which gives you objective information about each medical school in the caribbean, and MD Salaries which touches upon the financial aspects of a medical career. I'm also second in command at Scutwork.com, the first and largest database of residency reviews. I received my B.S. and M.D. at the Medical University of the Americas and completed a family medicine residency as Chief Resident and Teacher of the Year in Rapid City, SD. I am currently practicing medicine in upstate New York.

2 thoughts on “Pain Medicine Physician Salary”

In the training paragraph, is the total years of training accurate? I thought you would have to complete 4 years of undergraduate studies majoring in pre-med, go through 4 years of medical school and then a 4 year residency program in a particular field (in this case pain management).
Thank you